Woman gangraped at gunpoint in front of husband, probe on

A woman was allegedly raped in Uttar Pradesh in front of her husband and their two-year-old son by four suspects who held a knife to the throat of the toddler to threaten the couple.

According to police, the victim and her family were returning Friday morning on a motorcycle from a trip to Basera village, close to Muzaffarnagar, when they were intercepted by the alleged attackers in a car. The suspects told them that the Ganga canal bridge on the main route was damaged and suggested a back road.

The victims took the detour and it was there that they forced the motorcycle to pull over, beat up the husband and dragged the three to a sugarcane field, police said.

“After this, one of the men placed a sharp-edged knife against the victim’s son’s neck as they took turns raping her. After committing the crime, they escaped uninterrupted,” said an officer at the Bhopal police station, the closest to where the incident occurred.

According to him, the barely-conscious woman approached a passerby farmer who called the 100 emergency line.

Circle officer, Bhopa, Rijwan Ahmad, said that on the basis of the FIR, a case had been registered under sections 323, 376D and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

Police inspected the crime scene with the victim and collected evidence.

Senior superintendent of police Anant Dev Tiwari also reached the spot and instructed Bhopa police to speed up the search for the suspects.